Silver Thatch Palm

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This is a digitised version of an article from The Cayman Compass's print archive. Occasionally, the digitisation process introduces transcription errors, or other problems.

See the article in its original context from April 1993.

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The silver thatch (Coccothrinaxproctorii) is named after Dr. George Proctor, author of the book, Flora of the Cayman Islands. This palm is unique to the Cayman islands and grows in rocky thickets. Its leaves, which are silvery on the underside and hang down, are used for basket making, rope making and thatch (hence its name).

The white flowers grow in profusion on long stalks and the fruit is round, 0.5 cm in diameter and green, turning black when ripe.